Like a Flickering Flame
by N7angel
Summary: Jodie had done some awful things just to survive, things no one should ever have to do, and it was all so that she would one day be able to get away from the men who made her life hell. But one encounter with three men in a bar gives her the first real chance she's had in a long time, just as one cop gives her a reason to live. Eventual Rick/OC


_**This story takes place during the season two episode "Nebraska" and I plan for it to extend clear to season four. A few things have been changed around, and certain events will take place a little differently since there is an OFC involved. Eventually, it will be Rick/OFC, but that's further down the road.**_

_**And always remember that reviews are both welcomed and encouraged! But please, no flames.**_

_**I'm sure this doesn't need to be said, but here's the disclaimer ::: I ****do not own "The Walking Dead". The only thing I do own is the OFC named Jodie.****  
**_

* * *

It was a beautifully deceptive day.

The sun going down was absolutely beautiful, a pink and orange hue cast upon the sky, and the temperature was starting to cool down to a pleasant temperature, though it would get chilly once it was dark. All in all, if it weren't for the stray lamebrains – a term one of the guys in her group came up with – on the side of the road, Jodie might forget for just a second that the world had gone straight to hell, and that at twenty-seven she'd seen and done more terrible things than anyone her age should have to see and do.

Sitting in the backseat of the car on the passenger's side, Jodie let her head rest against the window, watching the scenery as it shot by with the car going around 50mph and allowing her thoughts to wander.

When shit first hit the fan and the dead started walking, Jodie hit the road with her two older brothers, Brian and Mike. They'd been steadily making their way south where they'd be able to get by in the winters. Everything was going okay for them until they stopped at a shopping center near the bottom edge of the state to stock up on supplies only to find themselves ambushed by a group of degenerates who had their sights on one prize – her.

Apparently, people were still twisted even after the undead took over.

Her brothers tried to get her out, tried to keep them all alive, but they were gunned down before they even made it back to their car, and Jodie was forced into their killer's group.

That seemed like years ago as opposed to only two or three months, and what Dave and the others had done to her in that time… the mere memory of it all made bile rise up in her throat and hate run through her veins.

For the longest time she was kept tied up in a van with four other women ranging from twenty-two-years-old to thirty-four when they traveled or to a tree like a dog when they set up camp, waiting for one of the guys to decide he wanted her… company. The other women fought tooth and nail or coward when a man came for one of them, and nothing turned out well for them as they'd returned battered and bruised. With that in mind, after two weeks of struggling until the ropes cut deep into her wrists Jodie decided to take a different approach, one that made her skin squirm and had her vomiting later – she submitted without a fight.

If she wanted to get by and one day get away from them, she needed to know how to defend herself, and that meant learning how to handle a gun, something she wasn't that good at. As much as it killed her, as sick and disgusting as it made her feel, she put up no fight when Dave came looking for her company and she worked her ass off to gain his trust so that she would one day be strong enough to throw it back in his face. Her tactic didn't win her any points with the other women who came to see her as a slut and a traitor – even the women who weren't treated like dirt and were allowed to walk around camp such didn't like her because of how she acted – but she was ensuring her survival the only way she could.

And it worked.

Little by little, her leash was loosened and she was allowed to sit a little closer to the fire. A little over a month ago, her bounds were cut entirely by Dave and she was allowed to wander around camp whenever she pleased, and she continued to make herself look like one of the group by pulling her weight and helping everyone work. Then, one day, about five weeks ago, she asked Dave if he could teach her how to use a gun because she wanted to have his back whenever he went on a run. She sold it like she cared about what happened to the him when all she wanted was for some lamebrain to rip his throat out, but he bought it nonetheless and set to work on teaching her how to shoot every single day to the point when he was having her help watch the perimeter with a rifle.

So many nights she was tempted to leave, on so many runs she went on she was tempted to sneak off, but she never made her move. Maybe they had broken her spirit and extinguished that last flicker of will within her just as they did with the other women after all, because there were so many opportunities for her to just run or to even gun down Dave and whoever he brought with them on runs but she never did, not even now, and it was all for the sake of surviving.

On her own, she'd die, she knew that much by recalling how close to death she'd been when they grabbed her.

With them, she might hate life and hate herself, but she was breathing.

But even the excuse of remaining with them just to survive was growing old.

"You're awful quiet over there Jo-Jo," Dave observed with the nickname she absolutely hated.

She shrugged, tucking a long lock of light blond hair behind her ear that was more than a little tangled, wishing she could take a real shower. "Don't have anything to say."

"Girl's on the rag, I'm tellin' ya!" Tony insisted with a laugh, twisting as much as he could to look at her with twisted humor from the front seat. "Could throw 'er to the lamebrains if we need'ta get outta here quick!"

Dave laughed. "Not enough meat on her bones, man, they'd be pickin' their teeth with her bones like she was a fuckin' toothpick. Ain't that right, Jo-Jo?"

Jodie graced him with a tight smile, her dark brown eyes narrowed angrily at him.

He snorted, amused. "Ah, don't be like that, baby. We're just having some fun with ya, that's all!"

"Yeah," she mused in mock agreement. "Because hearing that I'm gonna be chow for some hungry lamebrain is oh so funny."

"Christ, girl, anyone ever tell you that you have no sense of humor?" Dave asked, chuckling dryly.

Again, she just shrugged.

He glanced back at her. "What? Don't feel chatty?"

"Not particularly."

"Suit yourself," he sighed, still smiling and focusing his eyes back on the road.

All Jodie wanted to do was wipe that smile permanently from his face, especially after the other day. He was always exceptionally rough with her, but when he was drunk he was so much worse, and the other day he'd been exceptionally drunk. She still had bruises all over the place and cuts all over her back that made her blood boil whenever she saw them.

One reason.

That was all she needed.

Just one damn good reason to put a bullet in his head so she could hit the road.

But she couldn't take both him and Tony down on her own, not when they weren't the only ones from the group on the road. The moment she shot one, the others would be on her ass in a heartbeat. Some night she thought it might be worth it to just take out Dave and be gunned down herself, but she hadn't gone through hell to survive this long just to call it quits.

So she waited as patiently as she could, waiting for the right moment, and she went on runs with Dave every chance she got.

Currently, they were on their way to some small town to see if there was anything worth taking. They were running low on food back at camp so Dave decided to head out with Jodie and Tony in one car and Sean, Randall, and Nate in the truck behind them to find whatever they could, leaving Mac in charge back at camp while they were gone.

A hint of a smirk played on her lips, thinking about Mac.

Mac was just as bad as Dave, but he hated him and longed to be in control of the group. If Dave turned up missing, Mac wouldn't bat an eye and would instead seize control. Wasn't like he hadn't tried to do so before whenever they came back late or whenever they disagreed on how to handle things.

One thing they strongly disagreed on was how to handle the farm down the road a ways that Randall had pointed out to them.

Randall was relatively new to the group, but he pulled his weight so Dave kept him around – hell, Jodie didn't mind him all that much actually – especially when he'd grown up in the area and told them about that farm. After scouting it out one day, they found that there were more than a few people living there, some armed to the teeth and others not so much.

There was safety in numbers, sure, but what had Dave's attention was the farm itself. With a group of thirty-six to watch out for, he claimed that he needed the space that those people had and would eventually take it from them.

Mac didn't care much for the idea and wanted to keep heading south, so going to the farm was still up in the air.

It made no difference to Jodie considering she had no say in the matter, but she was growing tired of seeing people gunned down like animals.

After a good hour's drive, they reached the town, coming to a halt at the stop sign so Nate could pull up next to them.

Rolling down his window, Dave called to his boys in the other car, "We'll park up ahead and see what's what, you guys go check things out down that ways and we'll meet up by nightfall, got it?"

Nate and Sean both nodded, snapping at Randall in the backseat before driving off straight ahead while Dave made a left turn into town.

"No lamebrains," Jodie mused to herself, noticing how empty the town looked. "Someone must have picked them off."

"Or they joined up with a pack and scurried off," Dave added, pulling over on the side of the street and getting out.

Jodie sighed, following his lead and hoping out of the truck, checking her Beretta to make sure it was fully loaded even though she knew it already was, and slipped it back into the holster on her right thigh before dragging her tattered denim backpack out of the truck and slipping her arms through the straps.

Staring at the bag that had seen better days, Tony asked, "When you gonna find another damn bag?"

"When I need another one," she replied tersely. "There's nothin' wrong with the one I have."

Not to mention it and the few possessions within were all that she had left of her old life. She'd die before she parted with it, and she took it wherever she went.

Tony, however, decided for some random reason that he hated it. "It's a piece of shit."

"It's not your shit, so what's the problem?"

Before they could continue carrying on, Dave smacked his hand against the hood of the truck. "You chuckle heads about finished bitching about bags and shit?"

Jodie ground her teeth and walked over to Dave. "Ready and rearing to go, boss."

"Good," he replied, looking at something behind her. "Now, am I seein' shit or are those the same two damn cars we saw parked at that farm."

Frowning, she looked behind her and spotted the two cars in question and felt a lump form in her throat as she nodded. They were the same cars all right, two of the handful that had been in the driveway.

"Great!" Tony grumbled, throwing up his beefy arms. "You saying we gotta pussy foot around this town?"

Dave scratched his chin, looking around in thought, and Jodie didn't like the look on his face. "I'm thinkin… maybe it's time we have a nice little chat with our good ol' farmers, see what we can find out about this farm of theirs. Maybe get them to take us there for a little show and tell – sure would make pushin' them out easier."

Jodie snorted. "You think they're just gonna spill their guts and bring in a bunch of strangers?"

"Not if we ain't friendly," Dave replied, shrugging with a smile. "And we're a bunch of friendly ass people if I do say so myself."

He could be called a lot of things, but definitely not friendly.

"And if they don't tell us anything?" she asked, knowing the answer. "What then?"

"Then we ventilate them," he replied with ease, perfectly content with killing them, making his way to the bar the cars were parked at.

Jodie chewed on her cheek, hesitating for a moment before following after him and Tony, hand resting on her gun.

This wasn't what she'd expected when they'd gone out on a run, and this turn of events wasn't at all good. She hated watching Dave kill people who hadn't done a damn thing, hated listening to him lie, and from what she saw when she went with him and Randall to scout out the far? There were women there and two kids from the looks of it though one appeared to be in her late teens – nothing good would come of them if Dave and his group got a hold of them.

Reaching the door to the bar, Dave flicked her an excited smile before yanking the door open and walking inside.

Three men were standing at the bar on the far end – a young Asian with a shotgun, an old man who looked like he might have had a few too many, and a man with a beard in his mid to late thirties standing in the middle. All three snapped to attention the moment the door opened, shocked to see other people.

"Son of a bitch! They're alive." Grinning, Dave played it off as if they hadn't recognized the cars, and said to the men, "Y'all are the first souls we've seen in a bar since… fuck, three months ago!"

The man with the beard wearing a dark blue shirt was tense, looking at them like they'd lung at any second, and the Asian looked so damn antsy that he might shoot himself in the foot, looking to the man with the beard for guidance.

It seemed that of the three, the one in the middle was in charge.

With how tense the air was around them, Jodie took a cautious step forward, ignoring the sharp look Dave gave her, and asked the man in charge whilst pointing to a bottle of liquor on the bar, "Been a while since I had a drink of somethin' that didn't taste like shit – you mind?"

He looked at her, clearly not trusting her, and she made a point of crossing her arms so that her hand wasn't on her gun. She wanted to avoid a confrontation for as long as possible.

After a moment, he nodded and replied with a thick southern accent, "Help yourself."

With a half-smile that didn't reach her eyes, she picked up the bottle of Jack along with a glass.

"Ah, c'mon, you aren't drinkin' that shit, Jo-Jo," Tony said with a chuckle, walking up and snatching the bottle from her and sliding it away down the counter. Looking to the guy in charge, he asked, "How's about we all share a glass of that Scotch you got there? I mean, hell, it's been so long since any of use probably saw another survivor, right? I say that's reason enough to celebrate!"

The leader was about to say something when the Asian smiled and said, "Yeah, sure, have a seat!"

Dave pointed at the Asian while giving Jodie and Tony a wide grin. "You see that? That there's a guy who knows how to treat new friends!"

The Asian smiled, but it faltered when the leaded shot him a look.

Regardless of what he thought, the leader picked up the bottle of scotch and a few glasses. He filled each glass with the amber liquid while Dave took a seat at the table, Tony propped himself against the main bar, and Jodie sat in a chair.

Deciding to start with the introductions, Dave said, "I'm Dave. Blondy over there's Jodie. And that scrawny-lookin' douche bag there is Tony."

Chuckling, the overweight man snapped, "Eat me, Dave."

Dave joked dryly, "Hey, maybe someday I will."

The leader didn't appear too amused with the joke, but he ignored it all the same, instead handing out the glasses of liquor.

"We met on I-95 coming out of Philly. Damn shit-show that was," Dave explained though no one asked. "Jo-Jo and I met back in Virginia, been watchin' each other's backs ever since."

Jodie rolled her eyes, and it did not go unnoticed by the leader of the three they'd just met.

He gave her a questioning look when he handed her a glass but she just looked away, refusing to even acknowledge that she'd rolled her eyes.

"I'm Glenn," the Asian said with a smile. "It's nice to meet some new people."

Handing off a glass to Glenn, the man in charge said, "Rick Grimes."

Dave nodded, then he looked to the old guy when he noticed that no drink was given to him. "How 'bout you, pal? Have one?"

"I just quite," the old man informed them.

Jodie raised her glass slightly towards him. "Good for you."

It was hard enough to quit when the world was still functioning.

"Thank you."

Dave, however, looked at the old guy like he was crazy. "Yeah, that's good and all, but you've got a unique sense of timing, my friend."

"His name's Hershel," Rick introduced, a rather grim look on his face. "He lost people today, a lot of them."

Jodie recalled how many people had been on the farm the other day and wondered just who had died, and she was shocked that Hershel had quit drinking instead of downing every bottle in the bar. If she'd had alcohol when her brothers were murdered she sure as hell would have been drunk out of her mind.

Dave seemed to realize that he needed to change gears and his tone went solemn and sympathetic as he said, "I truly am sorry to hear that." Raising his glass, he toasted quietly, "To better days and new friends. And to our dead – may they be in a better place."

Jodie bit her tongue before taking a sip of her scotch along with everyone else.

He wasn't sorry, not in the slightest.

The less people on the farm, the less people Dave and the rest had to deal with and put down.

When Dave leaned over to set his glass on another table, Jodie noticed that Rick tensed once again and she followed his gaze to the waistband of Dave's jeans. Had he not leaned over, Rick might not have seen the gun.

At least she'd made no effort to hide her gun.

Sighing, she said, "Hey, Dave."

"What?" He looked at her then to Rick and figured out what the problem was. Smiling, he pulled the gun from his jeans to show Rick, and asked him proudly, "Not bad, huh? I got it off a cop."

Rick looked at him. "I'm a cop."

Dave shrugged and added, "This one was already dead."

That didn't appear to put Rick at ease and Jodie saw him grind his teeth.

She wasn't really open with sharing any information about her or her family, but given the situation, she said, "My brother was a cop back in Virginia."

Rick turned his attention to her, tension leaving just a little bit, replaced by genuine curiosity. "Yeah?"

She nodded.

"Good man, her brother," Dave said quickly, shooting Jodie a look of warning, and she snapped her mouth shut as anger welled up in her chest.

Brian had been a good man and had worked his ass off to keep her and other brother Mike alive. He might have failed to keep them safe in the long run, but he'd tried and gave his life trying. He was a good man, and Dave shot him in the back while he tried to carry Mike to the car.

Here he was claiming that Brian was a good man like he knew him… it was enough to make her heart pound with rage that had been long suppressed.

Rick watched the emotions play on her face for a few seconds, glancing at Dave uncertainly, before changing the subject. "You all are a long way from Philadelphia."

"It feels like we're a long way from anywhere!" Dave exclaimed, and on that Jodie could agree.

"What drove you south?"

Dave shrugged, rubbing his eyes. "Well, I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must've dropped thirty pounds of sweat alone down here."

"I wish," Tony chuckled. Looking back at Jodie, he joked meanly, "Jo-Jo could afford to sweat off a pound or two though!"

"That's funny, coming from you," Jodie bit out.

"Both you chuckle heads knock it off. Jesus Christ, I'm livin' with children," Dave grumbled, dragging his hand down his face. Getting back to Rick and their conversation, he continued, "First it was DC. I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed, we never even got close. Passed through Richmond where I met Jodie, picked her and her brothers up, but, uh… lamebrains hit us and got 'em. We owe those boys our lives, I'll tell ya."

Jodie felt angry tears sting her eyes at his lie and glared at the floor.

How many times had he told that lie to people?

How many times was she just going to sit there while people bought it?

"That so?" Rick asked, a doubtful edge to his tone that had her looking up, and she saw him looking straight at her, blue eyes seeming to see right through her.

Hell, the guy did say he was a cop, and Brian could always tell fairly well when someone was lying, so maybe Rick was the same way.

When she remained silent, Dave cleared his throat and explained, "She don't much like to talk about it – touchy subject and all that, probably shouldn't have brought it up at all."

Rick glanced at him for a moment before looking back at her, and he said sincerely, "I'm sorry for your loss."

She forced a tight smile, finishing off her scotch and letting the liquid burn her throat.

"Anyway," Dave began again. "We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks, keep haulin' ass. Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way outta this thing."

Tony nodded slightly. "One guy told us there was a Coast Guard center in the Gulf, sendin' ferries to the islands."

"Then there was that rail yard in Montgomery," Jodie added.

"Yeah," Dave said with a nod. "Few folks said they were runnin' trains into the middle of the country – Kansas, Nebraska."

Glenn cocked his head slightly. "Nebraska?"

"Low population, lots of guns," Tony explained.

"Kinda makes sense," Glenn mused with a nodding.

"You ever been to Nebraska, kid?" Dave asked. "The reason they call 'em flyover states."

That got a chuckle out of Tony, and Rick even smirked at that one.

Jodie didn't want him smirking, she wanted him thinking – thinking about how dangerous these guys were.

As if to prove her point, Tony gave Dave a knowing look that sent her heart pummeling to the floor, knowing that the pleasantries were basically over and the real talk was about to begin.

"How 'bout you guys?" Dave asked.

"Fort Benning, eventually," Rick replied, and Jodie sighed, shaking her head. "There a problem?"

"There is no Fort Benning," she sighed. "Not anymore."

Rick frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She means, officer, that uh… we ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning," Dave explained. "Said the place was overrun by lamebrains."

"Are you for real?" Glenn asked, a deep frown wiping away any and all traces of his earlier smile.

Jodie was looking at Rick though, how his face fell and his shoulders sagged. Nothing like having the rug yanked out from under you.

"Sadly I am," Dave replied to the kid before looking down at his hands in his lap. "Ugly truth is there is no way outta this mess. Just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab a hold of you when you sleep."

Tony snorted. "If you sleep."

"Lord knows I don't," Jodie muttered.

Switching gears once again, Dave looked around and commented, "Yeah, it doesn't look like you guys are hangin' your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?"

Rick hesitated, then shrugged. "Not really."

Jodie cringed inwardly.

They already knew where they were, and lying was just going to put an earlier time on their death certificate.

"Those your cars out front?" Dave pressed, pointing to the door with his thumb.

"Yeah," Glenn replied before Rick could. "Why?"

"We're practically living in ours," Dave replied, stretching. "Yours look kinda empty, clean. Where's all your gear?"

"We're with a larger group," Hershel answered, both he and Rick eyeing Dave now. "Out scouting, thought we could use a drink."

At least they weren't stupid and knew something was up, Jodie noted with a twinge of relief. First people who had enough sense not to go blurting everything out in a long time. That being said, Hershel had told them a moment ago that he'd quit drinking.

Dave remembered that too and smiled at the old man. "A drink? Hershel, I thought you quit." After a pause, he continued, "Well, we're thinkin' of setting up around here. Is it safe?"

"It can be," Glenn replied with a nod, and in turn Rick glanced at him over his shoulder. Back peddling, he added uncertainly, "Well, uh, I have killed a few walkers around here."

Jodie blinked. "Walkers?"

Rick nodded, and replied, "Yeah."

"Fits the bill well enough," she agreed with a faint smile, liking the name.

Dave gave an approving nod. "I like that. I like that better than lamebrains."

"More succinct," Tony piped in, receiving a look from just about everyone in the room.

Rolling his eyes, Dave said, "Okay, Tony went to college."

"Two years," his friend said in his own defense.

"Money wasted if you ask me," Jodie commented dryly.

"I swear I'm gonna…" Tony trailed off when Dave groaned, and with a glare at Jodie he let it drop.

Silence fell on the room, tension filling the air, and Jodie shifted on her seat.

The sun was going down and it wouldn't be long before Sean and the other two went looking for them to meet back up. It could be that Dave was purposefully dragging things along at a slow pace for that very reason, wanting back up just in case, but he wouldn't wait forever just for a few extra guns.

"So what… so what, you guys set up on the outskirts or somethin'," Dave asked, looking from Rick, to Hershel, to Glenn, then back to Rick. "That new development?"

Hauling his fat but off the bar-stool, Tony walked across the room and asked, "Trailer park or somethin'? A farm?"

There it was – the bait – and Rick looked at Hershel.

"_Old McDonald had a farm…_" Dave sang, making Tony chuckle. Turning serious once more, he asked Rick knowingly, "You on a farm?"

Whether or not Rick was about to answer was rudely interrupted by Tony taking a piss against the wall, and Rick gave him a disgusted look.

Jodie was equally disgusted and glanced away as Rick did as well.

"Is it safe?" Tony asked, oblivious to how nasty he was. "It's gotta be."

"You got food, water?" Dave pressed.

"You got cooze?" Tony asked, zipping up his pants, and Jodie tensed. "Ain't had a piece off ass in weeks."

That was actually true if only because he was bored with the girls back at camp – and it had only been two weeks since he forced some poor woman into his tent.

Jodie glanced at Rick, taking notice that he wore a wedding band on his finger, and her heart ached. The guy had a wife, and if Dave, Tony, and the rest of her group got to them…

Rick met her eyes, followed her gaze to his ring, and she saw the wheels turning in his head. This wasn't sitting right with him.

Dave groaned, rubbing his face. "Listen, pardon my friend. City kids – they got no tact. No disrespect."

"I'm sure it's nothin' new," Rick commented, watching Jodie as she looked away on that note.

"What can I say? Dumb ass has a big mouth," Dave summed up with a shrug, turning his attention to Glenn. "So listen, Glenn –"

"We've said enough," Rick interrupted sternly.

Frowning, Dave started, "Well, hang on a second. This farm, it sounds pretty sweet. Don't it sound sweet, Tony?"

Tony nodded, leaning back against the wall. "Yeah, real sweet."

Dave looked over at Jodie. "What you think, Jo-Jo? Bet you're a real cowgirl at heart."

She shrugged.

"Never could keep her enthusiasm contained," Dave muttered dryly. To Rick, he pulled the sympathy card and asked, "Now, how about a little southern hospitality? We got some buddies back at camp, been having a real hard time. I don't see why you couldn't make room for a few more. We could pull our resources, our manpower."

Rick shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry. That's not an option."

It didn't matter if it was an option or not – Dave had it set in his mind that they were going to have that farm. Making Rick and the other two think them coming was a good idea would make things easier for Dave, but it wasn't necessary.

Watching Dave closely, Jodie noticed the subtle signs that he was frustrated with how things were going, and she was just waiting for him to snap.

Mulling it over in his head, he argued, "Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem."

"I'm sorry. We can't," Hershel insisted.

"We can't take in any more," Rick added.

Chuckling without an ounce of humor, Dave pinched the bridge of his nose. "You guys are somethin' else. I thought we were friends. I mean, we got people we gotta look out for, too. Hell, Jodie there is pregnant with my kid!"

She tightened her grip on her glass, grinding her teeth until they hurt.

Pregnant her ass.

Dave kept a steady supply of condoms around along with morning after pills that he made her swallow down if they ever had unsafe sex. She was definitely not pregnant, and the thought have him even lying about her carrying his baby made her sick.

Rick didn't buy it. "She's drinking."

"She's a shitty mom, what can I say," Dave explained with an irritated shrug. "Still need your help."

"We don't know anything about you."

"No, that's true," Dave agreed, sighing, laying on the guilt trip. "You don't know _anything _about us. You don't know what we've had to go through out there. The things we've had to do. I bet you've had to do some of those same things yourself. Am I right?"

Rick said nothing, but his expression was laced with unmistakable guilt.

Finding that nerve, Dave continued, "'Cause ain't nobody's hands clean in what's left of this world. We're all the same. So, come on, let's – let's take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we'll get to know each other."

Staring down at his glass, Rick said nothing for a few seconds, seeming to give it some serious thought. Then he shook his head. "That's not gonna happen."

"Rick –" Dave began.

"This is bullshit!" Tony hissed angrily.

Eying him, the cop instructed sharply, "Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down! Don't ever tell me to calm down!" Tony snapped, advancing on Rick who stood in response to the man's attitude. "I'll shoot you three assholes in the head and take your damn farm!"

Dave jumped from his seat along with Jodie, and he stepped between Tony and Rick. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Relax! Take it easy. Nobody's killing anybody," he said, giving Rick a slap on the shoulder that made the cop grind his teeth. Hopping over the counter of the bar, he added, "Nobody's shootin' anybody, right, Rick?"

Rick said nothing, but Jodie took notice that his hand was now resting on the Colt against his leg, and when he turned to face him, Tony reached back for his shotgun just as Jodie put her own hand on her Beretta, making Rick pause.

"Look," Dave started, removing his own gun and setting it on the counter. "We're just friends havin' a drink, that's all. Now, where's the good stuff, huh?" Clapping his hands together, he reached under the counter, saw Rick's hand tighten on his weapon, and slowly straightened proudly with a bottle in his hand, resulting in Rick releasing his gun but keeping his hand ready.

Smirking, glancing at Jodie, Dave said airily as he stared at the bottle, "That'll work, Baby Doll."

Without hesitation, knowing what he wanted whenever he called her that, Jodie raised her weapon, leveling it at Rick's head.

The officer's hand grasped his gun, but the cocking of Tony's shotgun behind him made his hesitate.

Glenn had his own shotgun raised, aiming it at Tony, but his hands were shaking – had he ever killed a living person before?

Sighing in what sounded like regret, Dave explained somberly as he poured himself a glass, "Don't worry – she won't bite 'til I say so. But the thing is... you gotta understand, we can't stay out there in the open. You know what it's like."

Looking at the gun Jodie had trained on him out of the corner of his eye, Rick nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do. But the farm is too crowded as is. More people will just draw in more walkers, pointin' guns at each other isn't gonna change that. I'll let you walk outta here, no hard feelin's, but you'll have to keep looking, I'm sorry."

Jodie stared at him, confused.

He'd let them walk away? He had to be lying, he wouldn't just let a threat like Dave leave, not herself when she pulled a gun on him. Dave never even made lies like that – once he pulled a gun you were dead, plain and simple.

This guy in front of her, Rick… he was a cop so he'd do what he had to, but was he a killer like Dave, Tony, and the others? Glenn sure as hell wasn't judging by how the shotgun was shaking, and she seriously doubted Hershel would walk into a room and kill someone just to take what they had. But Rick... the guy had a family, judging from his ring, and just wasn't acting like a murderer.

Dave wasn't standing too far from Rick, and it wouldn't take all that much for her to move her gun just a little so that it was aimed at that bastard who'd made her life hell. She'd be left alone – Rick and his people wouldn't want her since she was one of Dave's people – and it was possible that she'd die on her own, but was this living? Where she was now was surviving, but that wasn't the same as living, not really.

Jodie had been waiting for the right moment to make her move, and her hands began to tremble.

Wasn't this as good a time as any?

Tony chuckled behind Rick. "Let us walk outta here? You hearin' this shit, Dave?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm hearin' it," Dave acknowledged. "Where do you suggest we do that, Rick?"

Rick looked away for a second before he replied, "I don't know. I hear Nebraska's nice."

Dave laughed, shaking his head as his control snapped, picking up his gun to end the conversation permanently. "Nebraska, huh? Well, I'll tell you this, Officer Grimes – since you won't take us to your fuckin' farm, how's about I just shoot you here and now, and take –"

A single gunshot rang out in the small bar, echoing off the walls as the bullet from Jodie's gun lodged itself in Dave's head.

* * *

**_So? What do you think?_**


End file.
